Together, the Pitons of St. Lucia are one of the most recognisable sights in the whole Caribbean.

Our first view of St. Lucia and the Pitons in the dawn

The Pitons rise above the town of Soufriere

Petit Piton (on the right) and Gros Piton (on the left)

Gros Piton, the larger of the two, is 2530 feet high, while Petit Piton is a smidge shorter, at 2438 feet.

The pair form part of the Pitons Management Area

In terms of height, less than 100 feet separates the two peaks

The Pitons are the remnants of volcanic plugs, which formed within volcanic vents around 200-300 thousand years ago. Over time, the softer rock of the original vents has been eroded, to leave behind the harder, more resistant lava plugs of the Pitons.

Petit Piton from Soufriere beach

Idyllic stuff, isn’t it?

Life can be tough sometimes!

Gros and Petit Piton lie within the Pitons Management Area, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.

Petit Piton and the UNESCO World Heritage Site sign

Petit Piton

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Driving the country lanes of North Wales, you really never know what could be around the corner. We came upon this particular traffic jam near the village where Rich grew up.

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I love bees. And the Butchart Gardens outside Victoria on Vancouver Island are a paradise for them.

Even in late summer when we were there, bees buzzed around, tirelessly going from flower to flower, collecting up pollen. I could have happily watched them for hours!

Expand the minds of you and your children by travelling the World with Jaspa’s Journey adventure novels! The first three – The Great Migration, The Pride of London and Jaspa’s Waterloo – are now available in both paperback and ebook formats. Click here for more information.

Montreal Old Town is a pleasure to visit at anytime of the year. But I have to admit that in the cold it can be a bit of a challenge, like anywhere.

And the last time I was in Montreal in the winter it wasn’t just cold, it was COLD!

There’s point where the Celsius and Fahrenheit temperature scales cross. A value where you don’t need to specify which scale you’re using. You can just say the temperature and it’s the same on either scale.

The last time I was in Montreal in the winter, we reached that crossover point.

Minus 42 degrees!

Unsurprisingly, you can’t spend too much time walking around outside in temperatures like that. But with quite a few cafe breaks, we still managed a pretty good wander…

Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal in Place d’Armes

Looking across Place d’Armes from Notre-Dame Basilica

Saint-Sulpice Seminary in Place d’Armes, the second oldest building in Montreal

Old Montreal Stock Exchange, now a theatre

Rue Saint-Paul

Quiet side alley (at least in this weather)

The Old Customs House in Place Royale

A Ses-eye view of Rue Saint-Paul

Place Jacques-Cartier

The top of Place Jacques-Cartier, with Montreal City Hall in the background

Bonsecours Market

Sound advice

Even the locals were cold!

Where Rue Saint-Paul crosses Place Jacques-Cartier

When it’s this cold, sometimes you just have to dip indoors

Inside Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal

And of course, Old Town Montreal is pretty spectacular at night… but like anywhere else, much too cold at minus 42!

Expand the minds of you and your children by travelling the World with Jaspa’s Journey adventure novels! The first three – The Great Migration, The Pride of London and Jaspa’s Waterloo – are now available in both paperback and ebook formats. Click here for more information.

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On summer evenings since 2015, the imposing façade of the Canadian Parliament Building in Ottawa has been transformed into a gigantic screen 470 feet long and 30 stories high. Just after dark, crowds are wowed by a magnificent multimedia presentation commemorating the history of Canada, in English and French.

I was particularly lucky to experience the Northern Lights Show in 2017, the year that Canada celebrated its 150th birthday!

(Rich was disappointed not to have his proper camera with him, but the follow snaps taken with his phone will hopefully give you an idea of the spectacle.)

As I understand it, next year will be the final season of the current version of Northern Lights. So make sure to add Ottawa to your travel plans for 2019!

Expand the minds of you and your children by travelling the World with Jaspa’s Journey adventure novels! The first three – The Great Migration, The Pride of London and Jaspa’s Waterloo – are now available in both paperback and ebook formats. Click here for more information.

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In the UK, November 5th is affectionately known as either Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night. It commemorates the so-called Gun Powder Plot, a failed attempt to blow up Parliament over 400 years ago.
On this day I always think back to the evening I spent witnessing the dramatic, fire-filled celebrations that take place around the streets of Lewes in Southern England…

Last Thursday was Halloween. In North America, where I now live, it’s a huge deal. But in Britain, where parts of Halloween actually originated, it’s completely overshadowed by another celebration: Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Night.

Here come the crosses…

The short version of the story behind Bonfire Night goes something like this… In 1605, a group of men plotted to assassinate King James during the Opening of Parliament on November 5th, by blowing up the House of Lords in London. But the plan was foiled when, at midnight on November 4th, 36 barrels of gunpowder were discovered in the cellars beneath Parliament, along with the man in charge of them, Guy…

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Walking around the well-preserved remains of Carn Euny Ancient Village in Cornwall, it’s amazing to think it was home to ancient Britons for around 900 years, from the start of the early Iron Age (about 500BC) to the end of the 4th Century AD.

Even more astonishing is that the village was abandoned over 1600 years ago, at about the same time the Roman occupation of Britain was coming to an end.

Unsurprisingly, most of the ruins visible today date from the later part of Carn Euny. They represent a number of ‘courtyard houses’, large central courtyards surrounded by thick, interlocking walls. Within these walls were smaller rooms where people lived. This type of house was unique to Western Cornwall.

Over a thousand years after they were first abandoned, the houses got a new, brief lease on life… as pigsties and vegetable gardens.

Today Carn Euny provides a wonderful place to wander and ponder what life was once like on this rugged Cornish hillside. Especially as an eerie mist rolls in!

Our view across the rugged hillside as we arrived at Carn Euny

The same view as we left

Expand the minds of you and your children by travelling the World with Jaspa’s Journey adventure novels! The first three – The Great Migration, The Pride of London and Jaspa’s Waterloo – are now available in both paperback and ebook formats. Click here for more information.